The Almasti

Places

The Caucasus Mountains, the Pamir-Altaï
Mountains*, West Mongolia, the Urals and the
Russian Northwest (the Karelsky Isthmus, a
90-mile-long isthmus in Karelia, between the
Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga). There have
been interesting sightings in the Arkhangelsk
Region as well.

Other paranormal phenomenon (UFOs and
biophysical phenomena) have been reported in
the Pamir mountains.

The Almas are purportedly a race of wild
men said to haunt the forrests of the Siberian
wastelands of northern Russia. Unlike the more
notable Yeti and Meteh of the Himalayan
mountains, the Almas are more closely matched to
humans in stature and are regarded with little
more than indifference by the local natives.
Perhaps the most plausible and well documented
sighting of an Alma was reported in August of
1957 by a Russian scientist and hydrologist,
Alexander G. Pronin. Pronin described the
creature as “... a being of unusual aspect –
reminiscent of a man’s figure, but with a
strongly hunched back – his arms are longer than
in the ordinary man (and) covered in with
reddish gray hair.”

N.M. Pzewalski and the noted zoologist Khaklov
both came across tales of the Almas from the
Kazakh herdsmen in the Dzungaria, a region
bordered by the Altai Mountains to the north and
the Tien Shan Mountains to the south. Even
though there are occasional reports of Almas
having raided farms in search of food, the
beings are treated with tolerance, beign
considered an inferior form of humans and
therefore more pitied than feared.

Several expeditions into Alma territory has been
fielded by Professor Jeanne J. Kofman, resulting
in numerous stories but no tangible proof of the
creatures existence.

Description

With a height of five to six feet, very human
looking and slightly ape-like, the Almasti is
close to the Yeti but has shorter arms. He has
less hair (black or brown) on the face and body
than the other hominids. It feeds on berries.
Sometimes it attacks sheep, but it eats only
their liver. Being a nocturnal creature, it is
very difficult to catch a glimpse of this
elusive hominoid. As a rule, the "snow man"
leaves no traces of its death. In some cases,
people have attempted to shoot the creature.
These individuals reportedly died afterwards
under mysterious circumstances. Soviet
scientists speculate that the Chuchunaa
represents the last surviving remnant of the
Siberian paleo-asiatic aborigines that retreated
to the upper reaches of the Yana and Indigirka
rivers.

Sightings

For centuries, reports about strange
creatures and rituals have leaked from the
taiga. Russian researcher Alexei Sitnikov and
his team of researchers reported a very strange
encounter that took place in 1993, while on
their way to Lake Tonee. The explorers had been
planning to study the area for several years,
but had been unable to do so because of a lack
of resources and the wretched state of the
Russian economy. Their plan was to determine the
optimal time to conduct an expedition to search
for proof of the possible habitation of a
gigantic serpent in the region. (There have been
numerous reports about the existence of such a
serpent in the Far Eastern part of Russia, in
the Primorskaya taiga).

The group of explorers had barely begun their
trek when they had encountered a creature known
to the locals as "snow man." They were crossing
the river on a raft, and on the other bank of
the river noticed a man who was covered with
reddish fur. The creature turned around, made a
sound resembling grunts, and then disappeared in
the thicket. A few seconds later the raft had
reached the shore, and Sitnikov with a colleague
chased the creature. Their fellow explorer
Sergei guarded the raft. They did not find the
creature, and came back to the river. Sergei did
find a barely visible footprint at the site
where they first sighted the "snow man."
Sitnikov recalls that the creature was only
three meters away when they saw it, and it was
plainly visible. The weather was sunny and
clear. The creature was about two meters in
height; its fur was of a dark hue, and not
thick. Its head was somewhat triangular in
shape, widening toward its base. (The base was
straight, but from the forehead toward the crown
the head narrowed.) The creature had small eyes,
wide nostrils, and a slit in place of a mouth.
The neck was not visible, and it looked as if
the head was placed on wide shoulders. It
possessed a powerful chest. Sitnikov had
collected many descriptions of the "snow man"
and has gathered statements from the local
populace, including hunters who have encountered
Bigfoot in the wilds. Secret settlements have
been found deep in the thick woods.